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While El Azteco, La Fiesta Mexicana, and Cafe Cubano may all be considered Latin American restaurants, there are definite differences among the menus and the cultures on which they are based.
El Azteco
With a menu including traditional Mexican fare, El Azteco also features more exotic dishes like its huge topopo salads and botanas.
"I was raised on this food. It's all I knew," stated El Azteco owner Arturo Santa Cruz. "I didn't have my first hamburger until I was 16. I never thought of it as being Mexican food. Actually, our cuisine is more New Mexican style."
The difference, Santa Cruz explained, is his menu is based more on American Indian or Aztec culture. "I'm from Las Cruces, New Mexico. It's a very old town. My family there goes back to the 1700s."
But when Santa Cruz wanted to open his first restaurant in an East Lansing basement in 1976, people questioned his decision.
"A lot of people asked me, 'Why do you want to start a restaurant down here? There are not very many Mexicans.' I said, 'I don't want to sell to Mexicans. We don't have any money. I want to sell to you.' They said, 'Well, I don't think Americans will ever go for it.' I just had an inspiration that it was something I could do. I talked somebody into loaning me $10,000, and that's how it started....